


Sky (Sports) Is the Limit

by cigarettesandalcohol



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Basically, Co-workers, English Premier League, Everyone Is Gay, First Kiss, Football, Gen or Pre-Slash, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpy Young Men, M/M, One Shot Collection, Pre-Slash, Punditry - Freeform, Short, Snippets, Suit Kink, mine ofc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25743604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cigarettesandalcohol/pseuds/cigarettesandalcohol
Summary: A collection of one-shots about the various ships and friendships in the Sky Sports studio. Each chapter is a separate one-shot fiction.
Relationships: Jamie Carragher/Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher/Roy Keane, Roy Keane/Gary Neville, Roy Keane/Graeme Souness, probably others - Relationship
Comments: 16
Kudos: 32





	1. Neville/Carragher

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This work is going to have multiple chapters, each chapter its own fic. I'll always tag them, write the pairing (or pre-slash pairing) in the chapter title. They're basically short one-shots but I didn't want to make a separate fic for every single one of them. They'll be very short and usually kinda sweet and fluffy and/or light-hearted. I'll save my angst for separate fics.

" _Jesus_." Gary's groan followed by sight made Roy raise his eyes from the papers in front of him. He didn't want to ask _what's happened_?, he didn't want to seem too nosy or even curious about whatever it might be that made Gary annoyed.

"Carragher," Gary explained, lifting his phone a little, to make sure Roy gets it. "He's writing to me. _Muppet_."

Roy's glare was making him uncomfortable - at first, he wanted Roy to know, wanted to get his attention, make fun of Carragher who wasn't on for tonight's show, but when Roy's eyes were staring into his soul like this and there wasn't even a hint of a smile on Roy's lips, he felt embarrassed. He quickly returned to his phone, laughing awkwardly while still feeling Keane's stare.

He couldn't help but giggle at the new message Carra sent him.

"Ask him out." The undeniably Cork accent came so unexpectedly Gary let out a chuckle before his brain processed what has been said.

"What?"

Keane's face was just as dead serious as before. "What are you looking at? Just ask him out. You've been fucking laughing at his messages for at least ten minutes."

"No, I _have not_." Blood rushed into his face, he could feel it turning red. 

Roy raised his eyebrows slowly as if this conversation was getting boring for him.

"Whatever you say, Gary."


	2. Carragher/Keane

"Smile, Roy!"

Jamie would never admit it but those two words might have been the most difficult he's ever said.

He managed to snap a picture before hearing the way too familiar " _For fuck's sake_." He could imagine the eye-roll that was probably accompanying the words.

"Sorry." Carragher checked his phone, feeling almost proud of his own mischief. He had to take a chance now when they were in a lift together - he wouldn't dare to just come up to Roy and ask him for a photo. The lift was the only possible spot for doing that.

And - if Carra was being honest - the look on Roy's face was priceless.

"I just wanted to have a picture," he said, trying not to sound too scared with Keane's eyes boring through him.

"You could have asked, Jamie."

Roy's voice was calm, almost reminiscent of a one that a strict teacher would have, and Jamie couldn't decide which was worse - angry Keano or a disapproving one.

He was surprised at the sound of his own name coming from Roy though. Jamie. He could imagine what Roy would call him back in their playing days.

_Fucking Scouse langer._

"Will you at least send it to me?"

"The - the picture?" Jamie stuttered, not knowing whether it was meant to be a joke or not. It was always difficult with Keano.

"Yeah." They got out of the lift and Keane reached in his pocket for his own phone. "I'll give you my Whatsapp."

Carra bit his lip to not laugh about the pronunciation and - more importantly - about the fact itself - that Roy Keane knew what Whatsapp even was. And what's more, he was just about to share it.

"Does Gary have your Whatsapp?"

"Nah." Roy with a phone, with his fingers promptly tapping on the screen, that was a sight to behold. Jamie was seriously tempted to take yet another picture. Or even a video. _Roy with a phone_. "He'd be constantly spamming me - " He frowned. "You know how annoying he can get."

Carragher chuckled. "Yeah."

"So - here it is - " He showed the screen to Jamie, who still couldn't believe _this_ was happening. "You can find the name - the nickname - or whatever it is."

Jamie squinted, remembered the nick, repeated it for himself, and then started typing on his own phone. "Yeah - got you," he announced.

"Good." Roy hid his phone again, having done with this and considering it closed. "Send it to me when you have time."

"Sure."

Jamie was still so lost he didn't even try to ask any questions or tease the older man about having such an app.

Still, when he got in his car, he sat motionless for a moment, thinking. Then, he pulled out his phone again and went straight to his contacts on Whatsapp.

_Setting._

_Change the contact name._

_RoyTheBoy_.


	3. Keane/Souness

_16\. 12. 2018_

He loved working with Kelly as much as he used to love working with her dad, although sometimes, in private discussions, without the cameras rolling, he would still feel the kind of paternalism over her. He used to push her pram for God's sake; it was just around the time when he would stick around the Dalglishes a lot, sometimes even staying overnight, practically living with them, as he himself - _happily unmarried_ , he would always say - had nobody to go home to. She was almost like a daughter to him at that time, and it was unbelievable that the little girl was now a well-established TV presenter.

He had to be so old.

He loved working with Neville and Carragher but they were just _too much_ sometimes. Too much banter and shrieking and laughing and being all over the place, jumping into each other's unfinished sentences and talking over them, getting frustrated and then laughing again, teasing each other mercilessly all the time.

And Dave was nice, but that was it. Jamie was nice to him as well, they were all always nice, although sometimes he knew they were mocking him for his uncompromising criticism and all his complaints about the young generation of players. _That's the old man_ , they laughed. _Graeme, we know you remember the first year of the FA Cup, but times have changed_. They were ostentatiously making jokes and winding him up but when he came back after his collapse in 2015, everyone stopped for a moment. Suddenly, it was all care and worries, and compassionate eyes when he was swallowing his pills or when he had to stop for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying not to focus on the panic-inducing feeling in his chest. He felt like shouting _I'm not dying yet_ when he noticed their looks. But they were all dead nice to him. He just hated feeling weak.

When the news of Roy Keane coming to the studio reached him, he felt relieved. He was sure Keane wouldn't have many compassionate looks for him, and somehow, it made him excited.

"You know," Neville said, laughing after they discussed the scheduled special guest a bit, "he even said you're his favorite pundit."

"Really?"

Gary's annoying laugh got even worse. "Yeah. He was sitting next to me and he said you."

"Oh."

Deep down, he was pleased. A man who praises him and can wind Neville up? That was a dream come true.

He expected Keane to be quite grumpy, or to just not talk much at all, but he proved to be sharp-tongued and surprisingly witty with his comments the minute he arrived. There was something about his presence, something that made Souness alert. He just couldn't tell the change between Roy being serious and Roy making jokes, and it was brilliant. It kept him on his toes. He enjoyed that in a similar way he used to enjoy rival fans hurling abuse at him back in the playing days. Keane was there to challenge him, and he liked it.

_You are an equal, Roy. An equal bastard, some might say. An equal man. The same breed._

The tension was real. He, who has always felt relaxed in the studio, soon realized how different the air seemed tonight. 

He loved working with all the others; but they never made him feel like this.


	4. Neville/Carragher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment discussed in this story is from the Sky Sports video on youtube called "Team of ONLY Gary Nevilles v Team of ONLY Jamie Carraghers on Football Manager", around 2:40.

_"He's got a couple of extra inches on me - "_

_"Steady - "_

_"Height wise!"_   
  


He couldn't stop thinking about the cheeky tone of the Scouser's voice. _Steady_ \- _steady there_ \- 

_A couple of inches._

Yeah, it was such a stupid thing to say. Gary now realized it.

He just didn't know Jamie would jump on those words like that. It was a childish wordplay. _A couple of inches_ \- 

What the hell was Jamie even thinking when he said that on air? Was it just him or was Carra's voice - flirty?

He went back to that specific segment of the program unholy amount of times. The Scouser's smirk was too much for him to take more than ten times, so he just closed his eyes and listened to his voice - _Steady there_ \- _Steady there_ \- _Steady_ \- 

And then the laughter; which saved the whole situation. But just the thought of Carra saying this; using the unfortunate play with words and their meanings live on air, to spice things up, that idea wouldn't leave him, and he almost regretted not reacting to this slight jibe with his own cheesy response, instead of just trying to save his face by a boring correction of terms - _Height wise_!

He cut the sequence from the video on his phone, replaying those five seconds again and again, still smiling at the sound of it, and then sent it to Jamie with an attached message.

To: Jamie

_i thought you'd be flattered!_


	5. Keane/Carragher? + Carragher/Neville

Gary watched the unusual pair with furrowed eyebrows, looking more focused than during all his analyses that evening. The fact that after the end of the program Roy walked up straight to Jamie, losing all his frustration that made his TV outburst memorable, and started chatting to him, amazed Gary. Since when were the two of them friends? 

He collected his papers while still watching them and overhearing some of their words. It was a rollercoaster of accents with Jamie's squeaky high pitches and Roy's unmissable Cork accent that was always more present when he got passionate or angry about something, or just generally when he spoke faster to explain something.

Gary stood still, waiting for the right moment when he could step into their conversation and join them but there was no place for him as it seemed. Jamie gestured frantically as his blabbering got faster and then he decided to take his chance and grab Roy's arm to make his point even more apparent. To Gary's surprise, there was no stare of death from Roy following the physical contact. Gary almost had a flashback of the one time he naively grabbed Roy around the shoulders in a particularly happy and carefree moment all those years ago, and Roy jerked away and gave him a look that made him realize he'd made a terrible mistake - and he won't ever do it again. And now, Carragher held Roy by the elbow for what seemed like eternity and Roy didn't bat an eyelid.

"Jamie, Jamie, it's his job to close the player down - "

Were they really still arguing about the match they've just spent half an hour analyzing? Neville shifted from one foot to the other nervously.

"Did you always close the player down?"

"I'd say I did!"

Gary tried to smile at the overhead conversation. Good old Roy, uncompromising as ever.

"Look, I know he should have done that but - "

Roy shook his head and held his hand up defensively. "I'm giving up - " It was only then that Jamie let go of his arm. "You've done my head in." He turned on his heel to Gary. "How can you even stand him. _Jesus_. My ears bleed." He touched his forehead, still shaking his head, but there was a hint of a smirk on his lips as he left the room, not bothering to say anything else. Jamie's eyes followed him and the look on his face showed just how glad he was he got a chance to annoy the hell out of Roy tonight.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Gary asked, stepping closer. 

Carra looked him in the eye, delaying his short answer for a couple of seconds as the tension grew higher. "Yes," he exhaled, before licking his lip annoyingly slowly. "Are _you_ proud of _me_?"

"For what?"

"For doing what you never could. Standing up to Roy like a real man."

"Don't get too cocky, Carragher. I played with him for over ten years. You'd be begging to be loaned out of the club after the first training session."

"Were you begging, Gary?" The lack of specification - _begging for what_? - made Gary swallow hard. Carragher noticed it because the bastard always noticed the signs of nervousness or tension. "I bet you were."

Carragher was a master of pushing the right buttons and there was nothing Gary could do about it. He could tell his cheeks flushed because Carragher's voice and the word 'begging' just had that effect. "Why don't you ask Roy? You're now such a good friend with him."

"Are you jealous?"

Carra's eyes were fixed on his lips, Gary knew this kind of look. The air in the studio was heavy and there were still other people around the cameras, finishing their daily work. Maybe they couldn't hear what the two pundits had to say but it wouldn't be safe to go on in front of them. 

"Should I be?" He was whispering by now.

"Should I make you?"

Gary could hardly contain himself. His eyes begged - yes, they _begged_ desperately - in a wordless plea. _Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here before I do something stupid like kissing you, grabbing your greyish hair, and unbuttoning that fucking posh vest you insist on wearing -_

The spark in Jamie's eyes showed him that his wish was understood.

Carragher won, as usual.


End file.
